Making Waves

Maui Rippers

Who can argue with a brand of board shorts whose R&D team is, basically, every beach lifeguard in the U.S.? These highly active men and women live in the sun, salt water, and board shorts—and Maui Rippers knows exactly what they need: heavy-duty fabric that withstands the elements and doesn’t cling when wet; triple stitching and extra reinforcement that can take a beating; UV protection; and a longer, classic old-school cut.

Or, as founder Joe Faustine puts it: “None of that Euro-style stuff.”

A lifelong surfer, Joe mixed business with pleasure on a “surfari” to Indonesia in 2003 and came back with prototypes of a rugged board short he thought other watermen would love as much as he did. He brought them to legendary Maui lifeguard Archie Kalepa to ask his opinion. Kalepa offered his North Shore team as a beta group; before long they had adopted the shorts as part of their official uniform.

Word spread. Maui Rippers became a statewide uniform and its popularity hasn’t stopped growing yet. The day we talked, Joe had just sent a thousand pairs of shorts to lifeguards as far away as Galveston, Texas, and Ocean City, Florida. He estimated that Maui Rippers is outfitting more than 25,000 lifeguards across the globe.

“I haven’t lost any customers,” Joe says proudly. “Once someone buys our shorts, they stick with us.”

Maui Rippers is a mom-and-pop venture; Joe and wife Mary operate largely by word-of mouth, and eschew anything “too stressful,” as Joe puts it, like wholesale trade shows. Instead they’ve focused on what they do well: building their brand organically, outfitting tropical outdoorsmen, and creating custom uniforms and logo wear for lifeguards, boat companies, hotel staffers and the like.

From their Ha‘ikū warehouse and retail storefront, the Faustines sell everything from heavy-duty fishing shorts (complete with a special vinyl pocket to hold a fisherman’s pliers and tools), to a fast-drying walking/board short hybrid—not to mention a robust line of women’s board shorts in three lengths and eighteen sizes, including plus.

Joe still likes to do his own R&D. “I go to Ho‘okipa to work three to four times a week,” he winks, referring to his surfing schedule. Who can argue, since understanding his customer has been the key to Maui Rippers’ success. MauiRippers.com